6
“I’m going to have to kill you, Tisha. You’ve been selling yourself to others long enough.” Tisha tried to run then, but she wasn’t able to…her legs were hurting, her body was heavy. “I’ve been sent here to do the Lord’s work, I was sent to rid the world of your kind.”
Tisha felt her fear double, the colors in the room she was in were too bright. Alex had broken in and was going to murder her. Dragging herself across the floor, she felt the bite of the hammer again, this time in her back. Screaming for someone to help her, Tisha felt her hair being jerked back, the knife at her throat.
“I have you.” She fought the arms around her, hitting and screaming to be set free. “I have you. No one is going to hurt you.”
The words meant nothing to her. Alex was going to kill her. Tisha tried to free herself, the tight bind around her was strangling her, she thought. Tisha didn’t want to die.
“Tisha, wake up.” The sting to her face made her fight harder. The second time she was hit, her eyes opened and she saw the man. A man was holding her, not Alex. Alex wasn’t there. Grabbing onto who she now knew was Zach, she held him, sobbing into his shoulder.
“She wanted to kill me.” She felt herself being lifted up and found herself on his lap, being held like she was a small child. “Whore. She kept telling me I was a whore, and that the Lord had told her that I needed to die.”
“I’ve had my brothers call the police. I want you to tell me everything you remember. All right?” She nodded and heard him say something low. Burt…she knew that he was there and that Zach was talking to him. “Okay, love, I have my phone on and it’s going to record what you say. Just let it tumble out.”
She told him everything she remembered. The feel of the hammer hitting her. The way that Alex kept saying that the Lord had sent her. That all of them needed to be dead. How Alex had hit her over and over, telling her that it wasn’t her idea, that the Lord had sent her.
“I didn’t do anything to her.” He said he knew that. “She stood over me at the end, with the hammer raised up high, when she suddenly got this look on her face, like she had no idea what she was doing. It was then that I noticed that she was completely naked. Why would she take her clothing off to come to my house?”
Zach said nothing, but told her to go on. Tisha spoke of what had happened, telling him things that she’d only just thought of…the look on Alex’s face, the way the hammer that she’d used was huge, not like one she had in her own toolbox. Zach explained to her what it was.
“She hit me with that thing over and over, whatever it was called.” With him holding her this way, close to his body, Tisha felt safe, like she could tell him what had happened and not feel the fear of it overpowering her. “I had spoken to her a couple of weeks before. She has been a teacher for a while, I’m not sure how long, but her room—she teaches third-grade—has nothing in it. A free calendar that she gets from the bank, I think, a writing chart above her chalkboard that is out of date. As well as her carpet, the one that the children are to sit on, is worn in a lot of places and needed to be replaced when the school did upgrades a few years ago. I know that she could have gotten a new one, but for some reason, she didn’t.”
“I don’t know much about this, other than the few things that I’ve caught from my brothers. I don’t own a television or listen to much music, so I don’t get a lot of news. But I have to tell you, sweetheart, she sounds off her noodle.” Tisha laughed. He sounded so sincere, so honest in his opinion, that it made her feel good for some reason. “You better now?”
“Yes, I think so.” The words that had been said to her that day, the pain of the hammer and the gun that had been used on her, faded away somewhat. “I’m sorry that I freaked out. I have terrible nightmares still.”
“I’m very sorry that I hit you.” Zach ran his fingers down her cheek to her lips. “If you really want me to feel better about all this, you should kiss me to make it all better.”
“But you hit me. Shouldn’t you be kissing me?” The thought of his mouth on hers, his tongue sliding along hers, it was a wonderful thought. “Zach, am I really your mate?”
“No. You’re more than that…you’re my everything.” He moved closer, his head lowering to hers. “My brother, Jace, is downstairs and just told me that the police are here. He came to the house when he felt I was terrified out of my mind for you. Kiss me, Tisha. Kiss me before they come up.”
The touching of their mouths was warm, soft, and almost too gentle for her. But as soon as he slipped his tongue into her mouth, touched his to hers, she felt heated. He pulled her closer, shifted her on his lap so that her breasts were pressed against his chest. And the deeper the kiss went, the more his tongue dueled with hers, the more she found that she wanted. Wrapping both her arms around his shoulders, careful of her hand, Tisha wanted everything he seemed to be promising her in his kiss. And when he lifted his head, she whimpered.
“Oh love, you have no idea how much I’d like to lay you back on this bed and take you. Strip you down one article of clothing at a time until you’re bare for me to look at, to feast upon.” She told him yes, please. “They’re here. They want to talk to you. And as much as I’d like to tell them to go away and fuck off, we need to get this woman caught and out of our lives.”
She knew he was right. It didn’t make her want him any less, but he was right, the police needed to be aware of what she’d remembered. When he sat her back on the bed, then got up to move, she watched him adjust his cock. Christ, he was huge. She licked her lips without thinking about what she was doing.
“Don’t look at me like that, or I’m locking the door and telling them to go the fuck away.” She nodded, then shook her head. “Honey, I kid you not, right now I could free my cock and come all over you.”
“We don’t know each other all that well. I’m not saying that I don’t want you, but it’s scary how much I don’t care about that right now.” He just laughed…it was hard, and not with humor. “I don’t know why we’re doing this. We can’t be mates, you know that, right?”
“We are mates, Tisha. We’ve already started the process of it. I nipped your flesh, tasted your blood.” She felt the burn on her neck when he looked there. “I did it in passion. I really didn’t mean to. Well, that’s not true, I did, but I’m not sorry that I did.”
“I can’t have children. I might not ever be able to walk again without a limp. That woman, who I thought was my friend, she destroyed everything about me.” Zach moved so quickly that it took her breath away. And before she could say anything, he had her picked up off the bed and into his arms. “Please.”
“She didn’t destroy anything about you. You’re strong or you’d not be here. You could have easily given up, let her take your life, but you fought her with all that you are and survived. You’re a survivor, Tisha.” He kissed her then, not soft or gentle this time, but hungry, brutal almost. When he lifted his head from hers, she stared into the most beautiful eyes she’d ever seen. “You can’t have children? Well, big deal. I don’t care about that so long as you’re in my life. There are millions upon millions of little ones out there that don’t have parents. We can’t take them all, but we can certainly make a difference in the lives of a few if you wish.”
“They won’t be yours.” He asked her why not. “Because I can’t give you one of your body. I won’t be able to give you a child of your own.”
“Any child that we bring into our house will be a child of our own. Maybe not of our blood, but that won’t matter a hill of beans to them or us if we love them. And we will. You not being able to have a child from your own body is tragic, I don’t mean to make it sound as if it’s not, but it will never lessen my love for you. Never make me feel that you are anything but the perfect person for me. And I will never feel anything for you but love, simple love, for the greatest treasure a man could ever hope to have.”
She was still crying when the police and a man that had to be Zach’s brother came in. As they moved around the room, adjusting chairs to suit them, getting out notepads and recorders, she thought of Zach.
He said that it mattered little to him about children. But she knew that he was wrong. Every man wanted a child of his own. She looked at him now, how he joked with Jace, and the way he kept looking at her, devouring her without touching her. It was then that she came to the realization that this man wasn’t like anyone she’d ever met before. He was.... Well, he was scary, but in a good way.
“Miss Porter, I’d like to talk to you about what you might have remembered.” Zach told them about the taping of her story, and let them listen to the words that scared her even now. “Good, good, this is extremely helpful. Now that we’ve listened to it, we have a few more questions for you. Are you up to it?”
She looked at Zach as she answered. “I want her gone from my life so that I can move on with mine. I have a lot to think on, plenty, but I want to do so without fear of her coming for me. And I think she will.” At his nod, she felt like she could go on, could deal with this, and when it was over, she was going to be able to figure out what this man meant to her, if anything. And see if it could be long-term.
~~~
“They’re making a killing off those old houses I told you months ago had to go.” Beth watched her father-in-law just lay there. “Did you hear me? I said that those men are making money off those houses that should have been put on the destroy list last year. You were supposed to make sure they were down.”
“You’re not blaming this on me. I told you years ago that you needed to make up a contract and have it signed off on by the old mayor. That way it would have been us that decided what needed to be worked on. Not to mention being the city’s contractors in all works. As it is right now, we got shit to use to show that we’re the ones in charge and able to simply skip over the bidding wars and just get paid when they come up. Right now, if I were to go to Miss High and Mighty with a suggestion these places were unfit, she’d only go behind my back and have all of them looked over by this other crew. They’re making us look bad, Beth. Really bad. I thought you had them stopped, anyway.” She wanted to brain him. Just pick up a nice brick and bash his head in. But she couldn’t. They needed each other. Or so she had thought years ago. Now.... “Come on over here, Beth, and suck me off again. Christ, you do that like a pro.”
“You’re not listening to me.” She watched him fist his cock. The man had some moves on him, but she wanted him to get things going in the right direction before they were caught fucking around. Literally. “Don’t do that. You’re distracting me from what I want.”
“Come here and let me give you want you want. You know you like it too.” That was the trouble, she liked it too much. “Suck me, Bethy. Come on and let me fuck that mouth of yours.”
Before she could think it was a rotten idea, she made her way to him. The man could and would make her scream more than his son did on his best days. And her husband never gave her anything like she wanted. Fuck her then roll over and sleep. That was his idea of making love.
When Joe sat up on the edge of the bed and held his cock out for her, she got down on her knees in front of him. Licking at the drips of precum on the dark tip, she looked up at him. Lately, she’d been noticing that he was really getting fat and old. But now wasn’t the time to think about that.
“You make me crazy.” He nodded and moaned when she took him in her mouth. Cupping his balls in her hand, she slid him in and out of her with a bob of her head. Reaching down to the floor, Beth pulled the vibrator out of her purse and turned it on. Nothing could get her wetter than hearing that thing buzz.
Putting it to her pussy, she felt the small climax take her. It was only the beginning; the real release would happen when she pulled from his cock and let him come all over her. Christ, nothing ever made her climax any harder than knowing that when he was empty, he’d toss her to the floor and eat her.
“That’s it, baby. You make me come and I’ll give you your own release. You know you’ll love it.” Moaning, he grabbed a handful of her hair and jerked her harder down over him. “Swallow, Beth. Swallow me down. Make me come, baby.”
She did as he commanded, the urge to gag never bothering her because they’d done this so many times that it was easy. And when he began to raise his hips up, meeting each of her downward strokes, she pressed the vibrator harder to her clit and screamed around his cock. He came hard, pulling free of her mouth just as his cum sprayed her in the face.
Beth rubbed it onto her face, her breasts, and belly. Even as he threw her back on the floor, her head hitting hard against the carpet, she felt her pussy soak. She was ready, right now, she needed to come like this. The moment he bit down on her clit, she came. Beth came hard even as disappointment washed over her. It wasn’t the way she wanted it, and he had to know that.
Joe moved off her, his body slick with sweat, and she noticed that it was looking sort of old around his cock too. He still had a better dick than his son and knew how to use it, but he was looking old and very undesirable lately. She was sure it was the hormones creeping up on her. That, along with his inability to do as they had planned made her snappish.
“That’s it? You get what you want and I’m left hanging?” He told her she’d come. “Yes, but once. You know I like to come four or five times when you do that.”
“I just don’t have it in me today.” He hadn’t two days ago either, and one time before that. “Look, if you need more then use that cock on a stick. I’m telling you right now, it’s going to be more enjoyable than I can be with you harping on me all the time.”
“Harping? Harping? I do not harp. I’m trying to get this thing done so we can get out of this town and be together.” She watched him pull his pants up over his tighty whities that hadn’t been tight or white in a while. “Joe, have you lost weight?”
“Yeah. Anna, she’s pissed at me again and has not been cooking. And you know how much I hate eating out.” He sat down. “I’m sorry, babe. Next time, I’ll make it up to you next time. Now, tell me about this building you were talking about. What are they doing to them that makes you so upset?”
“They took the Burner mansion and revamped it. Tore out walls, redid the kitchen. I went over there a couple of times, pretending to check on permits, and it looked really good. And yesterday, at the open house? They had over two hundred people show up. If they sell it for what I think it’s worth, they’ll make about fifty grand in profits.” He leaned back in the chair and looked like he was thinking hard. “Can’t you do that? Buy up a couple of houses and revamp them like they did? I was thinking we could take a couple of the lesser rundown ones and make them look that good by slapping some paint on the walls and hanging some pretty shit up. We’d be long gone before anyone found out that it wasn’t done like the Douglas and McBride properties.”
“I suppose we could. But there is the consideration of paint and pictures. I only have this business on account’a my daddy left it to me. I can barely build something with blueprints. I mean, I can slap one together on the cheap, but as far as which wall needs to be taken out, who to call to get flooring done? That’s not something I have any knowledge of. I can look into it for you, but I don’t think that’ll make the new mayor any happier with me. She’s been trying to get me into her offices for over two months now about some outstanding contracts. Can’t you get her off my back?” Beth told him she was trying, but she was like a dog with a bone. “Well, she’s about to gnaw right through me to my bones the way she’s going after me. Yesterday, I had to hide out for the better part of three hours while she had cops in the drive waiting on me. I know it was her, heard her tell them to wait me out. Fuck, good thing there was that accident on the main road or I’d be hauled in by now.”
Beth hated Emma Douglas. The bitch had been a thorn in her side since they were younger. Beth hadn’t helped matters at all, she supposed, by targeting the pretty little Emma McBride when she could, but then she’d gone away to boarding school. When she returned, she was.... Well, Emma had gotten a good deal smarter about a great many things, including how to use her fist.
“She’s just trying to look good for the election.” Not that she’d had to work all that hard at it. “I tried starting rumors about how she wasn’t fit to take the duties of mayor when she got pregnant, but that didn’t go over at all. People like her. I wish to Christ that her brother would have beaten her more as a kid. I think it might have made her a little easier for me to intimidate.”
No, that wasn’t right either. Even as a young kid, Emma had possessed the ability to see through her right to the bones. There had never been a time when she’d been able to lie to her either, not when they were children. But now…well, now Beth had been practicing for a long time. She could convince you that it was raining outside if you were standing in the bright sun. Beth had a gift.
“The sooner you get her off my back, the better I can work things out to get us out of town. I can’t pay that money back; you know that as well as I do. There ain’t none of it left.” He stood up and stretched. “It would be better for us all around if she were to be dead. And soon. I’ve been real lucky so far in not getting caught where she can find me, but that ain’t gonna last much longer. And when she starts looking really deep into things, we’re both going to be pretty fucked.”
When he left her, Beth sat there on the floor and thought about what he’d said. He’d told her flat out to kill her boss. Not that Beth hadn’t thought of it a million times a day, especially here lately, but damn it, how the hell was she supposed to do that? As it was now, she was doing everything on her own about keeping them in money and him out of jail.
Two weeks ago, Emma had pulled her into the office and asked her to get all the contracts that were outstanding on the Rogan Company. In addition to that, she wanted the amounts they were paid, how many of the jobs they’d finished, and if they were still working on them, what was the estimated finish date. Beth told her she’d get them, not that she’d have to look them up really. Beth knew each job and amount paid, as well as what had been done with the money when Joe’s construction company had gotten the checks. It had gone to having fun.
But Emma was getting harder to fob off. Even harder to work for. Just the week before her spawn had been born, she’d pulled her into the office again and asked about her father-in-law and where he was hiding out all the time.
“Joe is his own man. But you don’t have to worry about the jobs he’s won. He’s doing the work like he said he would when he got the bids. He’s a man of his word and works hard.” Emma cocked a brow at her. She realized how bitchy she sounded. “What I mean is, his crew is working on each of the contracts that he’s been awarded. I know that they’ve run into some issues, but they’re working them out.”
“Then I’ll need a list of those issues as well.” She wanted to tell her to fuck off, explain to her that it wasn’t her concern, that she had it under control, but Emma had continued before she could. “Do you know who is in charge of choosing the person that gets the contract? I’d like to talk to them as well.”
“Usually it’s the mayor, but I was told to do it when the last guy was in office felt it was beneath him to pick a name off a list.” Beth lifted her chin. “I think I’ve been doing a good job of it. The contracts don’t lay on the desk anymore, and someone is finally working on things.”
“Are they? I’ve yet to see a single person work on any of the projects I was told about. Last year there was to be a new playground put in at the park. So far as I can see, all that’s been done to it is someone put up a sign saying that it’s coming soon. I think soon was a little premature, don’t you?” Beth had said nothing, sensing a trap. “I want you to give me each of the contracts to look over, as well as any unfinished jobs. I’m going to see how much work is done on each of them according to the time frame that they’ve had to work. There are deadlines on each of them…the work must be done within a certain timeframe. Right now, it looks as if he’s defaulted on a few of them, if not all, of them. Wouldn’t you say?”
“I don’t know.” She did know, right to the day, how far behind Joe had been. “Let me talk to him on a personal level. Maybe I can get him to get his butt in gear.” Emma had told her it was too late. “What does that mean?”
“That for the last few years, more probably, he’s not done a single project that he took on. What I don’t understand, and perhaps you can answer this, is why he keeps getting the bids when he obviously isn’t qualified to do any of them.” True, but Beth didn’t want the bitch telling her that. “Have those reports like I asked for by the end of the week. And you should think about finding yourself someplace else to work, Beth. I’m thinking that when this all is out in the open, you’re no longer going to be able to work here. Anyplace, for that matter, but I want you to turn in your notice within the next month.”
As she left the office that day, all Beth had been able to think about was that she was going to be fired. And if she was, there would be no more contracts or money coming in for them. They depended on that cash; her and her husband, plus, Joe and her mother-in-law, all of them had come to enjoy the extras that her little business was bringing in. And now, because of Emma and her fucking rules, it was going to end.
It was then that she remembered the date. Christ, the bitch was coming back to work full-time next week, and she’d ask her again about the paperwork that Beth hadn’t done. Emma having her kid when she did had given her a much needed break. But now it was time to figure out something else. Or kill her off as Joe had suggested.
“Damn it, I’m going to have to kill her so I can have my cake and eat it too.” Beth got up and went to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, she knew that she’d not be able to do it. Not anymore. “Life fucking sucks, you know that?” Her reflection, of course, had no reply.
She looked down at her flat belly. She’d have to tell her husband soon that she was going to have a baby. If she told him at all. Joe was forcing her hand, and it depressed her a great deal. But Beth had no idea who the father was, either Joey, her husband, or her father-in-law, Joe, and that might be a problem down the road. At least if she kept it, she thought, she didn’t have to worry about it not looking like the family.
But Joe was pissed off about her getting herself knocked up, as he called it. He’d told her when she mentioned that she might be that she’d fucking better have an escape plan if she was. He’d even said he’d pay for the abortion for her as cover for her with Joey. Cover for her. Like she’d trust him at all to do a damned thing anymore.
She wanted this child, but apparently her lover didn’t, and that hurt her more than she could have thought it would. Joe had told her that she had to get rid of it, as if it were nothing more than a bag of trash. Or, he’d said, he’d do it.
Beth put her hand on her belly, not feeling anything but knowing that there was something there. Crying now, feeling so alone in the world, she turned on the shower to let the tears fall unchecked. Life now really did suck, she thought.